THE POPE’S EXORCIST (2023) Taking a stab at the “based on real case files” scenario The Conjuring made popular ten years earlier, The Pope’s Exorcist delivers a “true” chapter out of Father Gabriel Amorth’s (Russell Crowe) book of paranormal activity. The only official head exorcist to the Vatican, Father Amorth tries to help a small American family whose young son (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) becomes possessed by a demonic force after they relocate to an inherited piece of property in Spain, 1987. Upon investigation of the site—a decaying abbey—Amorth, along with a local priest (Daniel Zovatto), discovers the place harbors an evil secret that connects back to the Catholic Church. While the possession plot takes center stage, the film feels more like an epic haunted house movie, complete with dark corridors, mysterious knocking at night, and a grandiose finale taking place in a corpse-laden cellar. It’s all fairly familiar territory, but director Julius Avery (Overlord) infuses the movie with energy, humor, and a lightening-quick pace. Crowe has obvious fun with the material in a role that practically begs for its own Netflix series. B
SCREAM VI (2023) It’s not out of the ordinary for long-running horror franchises to eventually wind up in either (1) space or (2) Manhattan. Going the Jason Voorhees route, Ghostface targets the bustling avenues of the Big Apple in the latest installment of the Scream series. Picking up a few years after the the events of the last Woodsboro slashings, sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega), along with the remainder of their still-breathing friends, leave home for campus life in New York City, only to have their studies interrupted by a new series of Ghostface killings. A step in the right direction after last year’s misguided reboot, Scream VI helps the series feel fresh again—removing the plot (and characters) from Woodsboro is a risk that pays off for most of the runtime. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett offer some terrific suspense set pieces—the makeshift catwalk escape sequence is a highlight—and the gore runs thick and fast. The script, unfortunately, spends too much time on the newer, duller characters and doesn’t give the legacy survivors from past Screams enough screen time; fan-favorite Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) from Scream 4 feels wasted in a bit part. By now you’d think the makers of these movies would realize you don’t need that many red herrings! B–
SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) Years after Bride of Frankenstein left the Monster (Boris Karloff) for dead, the son of Dr. Frankenstein, Baron Wolf (Basil Rathbone), moves his family into Castle Frankenstein, only to be met with hostility by the villagers. When Baron discovers the semiconscious body of the Monster in his family’s crypt, he becomes inspired to continue his dad’s work and—with the help of disgraced blacksmith, Ygor (Bela Lugosi)—brings the creature back to full life. While easily the weakest of the Karloff-era Frankenstein films, Son of Frankenstein is solid stuff thanks to good direction by Rowland Lee, but mostly because of the movie’s first-rate cast, including a scene-stealing Lugosi, whose role, according to Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula by Koren Shadmi, was re-written and expanded by Lee without Karloff’s knowledge—an act that ultimately lead to Karloff’s decision to abandon the role. Karloff would return as Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein. B